How I dropped 1 stone in 2 weeks

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day but have you tried skipping it?

Few years ago I had been booked for a
photo shoot where I had to take my top off. It was just after Xmas and I had been eating an usually larger amount (as you do during Xmas).

We’ve all been in that situation when you know a holiday, event/wedding is coming up and you want to fit into that new suit or bikini (mankini in my case) and feel great about yourself.

With just over 2 week to this shoot I come across Intermittent Fasting. I decided experimented with it and lost around 1 stone in those 2 weeks. Side note: I was training 5/6 times a day during those 2 weeks.

What is it?

Intermittent Fasting is one of the fastest ways to lose fat I have ever come across.

Basically you have an extended period of fasting time during the day after or before you sleep. We all fast while we sleep for 7/8 hrs unless you eat biscuits if you wake up in the middle of the night (I have done this). During this extended fast your body becomes a fat burning machine.

How it works is you have a feeding window and a fasting period. Once you’ve swallowed that last bit of food your fasting period begins and you won’t have any calories until you break fast. You can (and should) drink plenty of water during your fasting period. Also zero calorie drinks like black coffee and tea (no milk) can be consumed.

Most people will fast say from 10pm after there dinner or evening snack to 6/7am breakfast time. With intermittent fasting you flip it around. For example you might have your last meal at 10pm and break your fast at 2pm or last meal at 6pm and breakfast at 10am.

This works as a fat burning tool for a few reasons:

Once your body as used those calories it will look for other sources to run off. If the is no glycogen (a glucose polysaccharide that serves as an energy source) your body will go to your fat stores for energy.

By fasting you body has more time to use up the calories it has consumed for energy and not store them as fat.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have issues with blood sugar regulation, diabetes or hypoglycaemia check with a doctor before trying this.

Their many different types of fasting but I like the 16 hour feeding window and 8 hour fasting period version. You can be flexible with too, 15hr fast 7 hr feeding window. There is a 24hr fast for those that want extreme results. I’d say experiment with it by easing into it slowly. Maybe try 12/12 first, then extend you fast and shorten your eating window by an hour each week.

You might of heard about the 5:2 diet well this is it but the method I tried is the the leangains method.

If you do try it make sure you stick with it for at least 2/3 weeks. Don’t go for 3 days and then give up because you got hungry and didn’t see results which is what I did the first time round. Your body will need time to acclimate it’s self to this new protocol so commit to it and I guarantee you’ll see results.

Tips:

Don’t expect miracles. You should still eating clean foods during this experiment and train regularly.

Stay busy during your fast. If you sat there looking at the time thinking about how hungry you are then it’s gonna be hell.

Train 1hr before you break your fast this way you’ll be depleting your muscle of any glycogen and when you eat the energy will go straight to your muscles.

Intermittent fasting is not the only way to burn fat but if is a great tool to have when it comes weight lose.

I’d love to know if your going try intermittent fasting or have experimented with it before OR if you think it’s a load of crap. Please comment and feel free to ask any questions .

There’s nothing like IF to kick start the fat burn. It’s so easy to do once we get it down. The initial period of adapting to it might be hard but it only lasts for a little while. Eventually, I think it’s be nice to have an article about eating once a day like Wim Hof does. To me that’s the ultimate form of IF, next to >24 hr fasts.

Hey Wing, thanks so much for your comment. What type of IF do you do? I just looked up Wim Hof and… WOW! he’s taking it to another level. Have you heard of Dr. Amen-Ra? He eats 1 meal a day after a 23hr fast and set a world record in deadlifting.

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About Mark

Hey I'm Mark and I just simply like helping people and enjoying life. I've been on a plant based diet since May 2015 and a trainer for 4 years would like to share what I've learned about health and fitness with you.

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